The Obama administration is claiming the largest energy savings in history in issuing new rules for commercial air conditioners and furnaces, one of the first moves by the government to cut carbon emissions after a climate change deal was agreed to last week.
“Just days after the Paris Agreement to cut global emissions and create a new era of affordable energy, today’s announcement marks the largest energy-saving standard in history and demonstrates that America is leading the effort to reduce energy costs and cut carbon emissions,” Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said Thursday.
President Obama outlined an aggressive push for increasing energy efficiency in appliances under his Climate Action Plan agenda, which also includes far-reaching emission rules for power plants that are being challenged in court.
The Energy Department has landed in court in recent years for moving too fast and aggressively on standards to raise efficiency and cut greenhouse gases under the president’s plan, and at the expense of industry buy-in. But Thursday’s rule is one that went through extensive negotiation with the energy industry and others before being issued.
“The basis of this rule is a consensus agreement worked out by affected stakeholders, including [air conditioner manufacturers], which is the process we prefer when federal efficiency standards are developed,” said Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute President and CEO Stephen Yurek.
“While we are still reviewing the final rule, we hope and expect that it includes the provisions agreed to by the parties,” he said. “This is an agreement that will ultimately save the nation considerable energy and we are proud of the role our member companies played in its development.”
The new standards take effect after the president leaves office in 2018, requiring manufacturers to make new furnaces and air-conditioning units that are 13 percent more efficient than current models. The standard ratchets up to 15 percent after five years.
The Energy Department says the efficiency rules will “save more energy than any other standard issued by the department to date.” The agency estimates companies that use the more efficient devices will save $167 billion on utility bills and cut 885 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, which most scientists blames for causing manmade climate change.
